Shotokan's Secret

I am preparing a seminar on the applications of Empi kata, and found myself explaining yet again that the Shotokan back stance is the "new" back stance. Okinawan styles tend to use the "old" back stance, which is on display in Empi, too. The "old" back stance is very simple. You do a standard zenkutsu dachi, and then turn your head and shoulders to the rear. The "swallow block" position of Empi is just an extreme example of it.

Today I got curious and looked to see if the "new" back stance is, in fact, a Shotoism. I spent some time with Google, sifting through a sample of the 34,000 web pages that mention "kokutsu dachi." The "new" back stance is pictured on sites that promote Shotokan, Shotokai, Tae Kwon Do, and Wado Ryu karate. These, as we know, are Shotokan derivative styles. I did not find the "new" back stance in any of the non-Shotokan styles I visited.

If the "new" version is really confined to the Shotokan lineage, then it is likely to be yet another example of something that was changed purely to make katas more difficult and more impressive. When we interpret bunkai, we should experiment with either the "old" back stance or the cat-foot stance (nekoashi dachi) instead of trying to make the "new" kokutsu actually work in any practical way.

I don't know why I have not read this blog entry yet, but a thought hit me after I read this.
Tieagedachi (T stance) I wonder if perhaps Back Stance is a bastardation of the T stance?
As we know the use of T stance over back stance, as they are so similiar, is preferable from a practical standpoint.
Better balance, better use of the floor for power transfer- the list is endless. It would make sense our fore-fathers would know this stance. Just thinking..........
Mike

Note to readers: The T-dachi Mike refers to is very common in jujutsu. It is an upright, relaxed posture, with one foot advanced about half a step toward the enemy. If you shorten it, you get cat-foot stance (nekoashi dachi). If you deepen and lengthen it, you get back stance (kokutsu dachi). BDC

All I can do is speculate, Mike. The "old" back stance was a front stance where you twisted your head and torso to look to the rear, like the "swallow block" in Empi kata.

It is awfully hard to demonstrate linear technique in that position.

I wonder if they didn't just turn the hips to the rear to a point where the stance would support linear technique. Voila! Kokutsu dachi.

I've been doing this painful stance for 40 years and I really can't defend it on a practical basis, except that it is easier to do front-foot kicks from this position, compared to zenkutsu dachi. And it makes a nice stackup for a shift into front stance for a reverse punch. But stepping forward in back stance? What kind of linear technique is that?

No, the dancers have been at work here. It looks cool, and it looks different from other styles, so it must be one of the "original" techniques that the other guys have carelessly lost. Not.

All speculation. The important thing is that kokutsu dachi definitely means that this part of the kata has been tampered with.